Cheryl Cole - Is her career over?

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THREE weeks ago, Cheryl Cole seemed to be on top of the world.  Now, not just her dream job in the US has been taken away, so now could her career.

DROPPED: Cheryl Cole's dream is conquer America is over

     Reports last Wednesday suggested that there was some unrest on The X-Factor USA judging panel and Fox hinted if things couldn’t be solved, action would be taken.  Then on Thursday morning, news filtered through in Britain that Cheryl had been fired, despite Simon Cowell’s willingness to keep her onboard.  The overall consent from the American media is simple; they just can’t understand her strong Newcastle accent, a reason that had been clearly dismissed furiously by the British public.

     A reshuffle will now take place within the programme.  Nicole Scherzinger is now expected to move from her presenting role onto the judging panel leaving Steve Jones to host as sole anchor.  This is certainly the best solution as Scherzinger did make a great impression when guest judging on last year’s UK series of the show.

     As for Cole she has returned home to Britain after just a 20-day stint in the Atlantic.  Her career is now in complete jeopardy, despite receiving the backing from JLS and Dannii Minogue.  Of course, there is the simple method of rejoining the UK version of the show.  That is unlikely, with auditions due to begin in Birmingham this week and it is almost certain now that Kelly Rowland and Tulisa from N-Dubz will join Gary Barlow and Louis Walsh on the judging table.  It wouldn’t be feasible for Cheryl to rejoin the programme because ITV would have to put filming of the programme on delay again.  They already had to do that when Minogue left a fortnight ago, which led to Simon Cowell calling a crisis meeting.  Her solo music career seems to have stalled and with a lack of communication with Girls Aloud, is this is the end of Cheryl Cole?

     It seems hard to accept indeed but sadly it seems to be that way for “The Nation’s Sweetheart.”  Having shot to fame in 2002 when selected to be in the line-up of Girls Aloud through the ITV talent show ‘Popstars: The Rivals,’ everything Cole touched from then seemed to turn to gold.  A turbulent four year marriage to Chelsea footballer Ashley Cole saw the public see her in a new light and a role on X-Factor soon beckoned.  There was a swing in popularity last year through a dismal series of X-Factor, which included refusing to send one of her acts home in a final sing-off in November, plus her near-fatal battle with malaria.

     Either way, it’s hard to argue that Cheryl has had a glittering level of success.  However, the ultimate question now is, is her career over?  Unless ITV hand her a remarkable and impossible lifeline, then unfortunately, the answer is yes.

Cheryl and Ashley Split - No Surprises

After weeks of speculation about sordid affairs involving another top-paid Premiership superstar who plays for Chelsea Football Club, the news broke yesterday of Cheryl Cole’s split from her husband, Ashley.

The England left-back, who is currently out injured with a broken ankle and faces a race against time to be fit for the World Cup in South Africa has seen a series of front page headlines for the wrong reasons, with allegation of affairs with up to six different women, whilst with Cheryl.  Eventually, the Girls Aloud singer has decided enough is enough and rightly so.

Following the recent furore surrounding Chelsea skipper John Terry, this is the last thing that both Carlo Ancelotti and Fabio Capello needed.  Capello has come out today with a quote, warning the England team about their future conduct.  It will be very interesting to see what the spirit in the camp will be like, with next week’s friendly against Egypt at Wembley looming large.  Chelsea have taken action and fined Cole for his actions, reports suggesting up to £400,000.  Ashley should be hanging his head in shame, he only has got himself to blame.  Excuses are the saddest and oldest trick in the book when it comes to infidelity. 

For Cheryl, it’s time to move on and she has such incredible support from her fans and close friends.  Girls Aloud will be backing her all the way, as they have done throughout, as will her close associates from The X-Factor.  Her performance at last week’s BRIT awards showed bravery, but in reality, she probably should have pulled out, as it sounded terrible.  A few days away in the United States were the best thing she could have done, and it is clear that she has done a load of thinking.  Ashley had played away before, back in 2007 and it took a lot of courage for him to be forgiven for that.  Stupidity should have been stamped on Cheryl’s head if she took him back again.  I still think she probably still loves him, but if there is no trust in a relationship, then it just isn’t going to work.

The Cole marriage has been under scrutiny for a while now; it has been one of the most talked about celebrity couples, but nowhere near on the strand of ‘Brand Beckham.’  Yesterday’s news was no surprise at all; it had been expected for a long while.  Cheryl has now requested for the media to leave her alone and give time to sort her head out.  I would hope that will be the case, though knowing the British media, that’s probably more of a hopeful rather than expectant plea.  She can do a load better than Ashley Cole and I do hope that everything will end up working for her in the end.

My final point is on relationships involving sportstars.  The Tiger Woods shenanigans before Christmas still burn very bright, especially after his frank press conference last week.  Formula 1 ace Lewis Hamilton went his separate ways with Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger at the start of the year, though there is now talk they are back together and now the latest implications involving Terry and Cole.  This is the case of ‘Men Behaving Badly,’ and big time.  You’d think these highly-paid global stars would be able to keep their trousers on, especially considering the farcical wages they pick up during a horrible economic period.  It would be nice to see these guys began again to dominate the back pages for their actual talents, rather than their clear lack of relationship skills on the front pages.  Lessons need to be learnt from this wave of cheating scandals, but will they….I really find that hard to believe…